Call for varsity union statute in a month

Former president of Patna University Students’ Union (Pusu) Ashish Sinha on Wednesday demanded the administration to draw up a statute within a month for the members to carry out work effectively.

Sinha tendered his resignation as the union chief on Tuesday in protest against the university’s failure to pass a statute in the past 17 months.

Students of Patna University chose leaders of their union after a gap of 28 years on December 11, 2012. A week later, the elected members, including Sinha, took the oath. But since then, the members have been deprived of the necessary handbook that would guide them to carry out Pusu’s functions smoothly.

Sinha, tendering his resignation to Patna University vice-chancellor Y.C. Simhadri, has demanded the statute to be passed within a month.

The former union chief told The Telegraph: “It’s a sorry state of affairs that even after 17 months of the formation of the union, Pusu does not have its own statute. This shows the lackadaisical approach of the university administration towards the union. We demand the statute to be prepared and passed within a month, during the zero session that starts from June 1 and ends on July 1. During that time, the colleges remain closed because of the summer vacation. The statute would determine the union’s jurisdiction.”

Patna University dean of students’ welfare K.N. Paswan said: “The statute is being prepared by the academic council and would be sent to the chancellor-cum-governor for approval. Once approved, it would be implemented.”

Sinha was not convinced though. “For the past so many months, the university administration has been saying the same thing — that the statute is being prepared by the academic council. After all, how much time does it take to prepare a statute,” he countered.

He also demanded a separate fund for Pusu on the lines of Delhi University, as the union does not have a corpus to carry out work.

Sources said the Delhi University keeps aside a certain percentage of the course fee taken from students for the union’s fund. Then, it is the union’s prerogative on how to use the fund.

Sinha said the Pusu does not have any such fund yet, hampering any work for the welfare of the students. “We do not want to be dependent on anyone for the fund,” he said.

Paswan said there is no provision for a separate fund for the union to carry out different works. On the demand for fresh elections to Pusu by September-October this year, he said it was an administrative decision to be taken only by the vice-chancellor.